Over the past few years, Hollywood has managed to continuously churn out remakes and reboots of now classic films, that has left people with more disappointments than the fond memories of said originals. Sylvester Stallone started to do this with his follow ups with 2006′s Rocky Balboa and 2008′s Rambo, but in 2010, Stallone turned David Callaham’s original script into a celebration of the 80′s action icons with The Expendables. Now, two years later, Stallone has returned with the help of Con Air‘s Simon West with The Expendables 2, a film that very much fits the number one criteria of a sequel, by being better and bigger than the previous entry. The film retains the original cast, with the likes of Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Randy Couture and the rest of the group, to help stop an evil mercenary group, called the Sangs, from getting weapons grade plutonium and selling it on the black market. With its all star cast and its perfect homage to every 80′s action film known to man, The Expendables 2 is an absolute blast that is not to be missed!

From its opening, the film gets everything right, with its loud reintroduction to the crew. From the great dynamics between the characters, to the high octane action, the film immediately pays the viewer off and showcases why this group of actor’s was assembled and why people will flock to see them. From drawing on the fears of the Cold War, to utilizing the exact icons of 80′s action films, The Expendables2 manages to encapsulate everything that was great about those films and make something completely fresh and new. All of the actor’s bring their A-game, from the banter between Li and Lundgren, to Van Damme’s split kick that just make this film an absolute joy for action aficionados. The addition of Nan Yu and Liam Hemsworth to the crew is completely worthy and both characters manage to hold their own next to all of the others. While the story doesn’t present anything groundbreaking or revolutionary, it doesn’t need to. The script and story manages to do just enough and present situations that highlight all of the characters in one way or another to fuel the testosterone driven action film for its entire 103 minutes.

The featurettes contained on the DVD of the film, showcase the production and how they were able to explore and expand on the original film. There’s a great section on how Stallone went through a lot by trying to do everything on his own and decided to get a veteran like Simon West to help contribute to the franchise. There’s also another short featurette on real life security forces and mercenary groups that show the type of work and dangers that they endure while on the job. With DVD’s usually getting the short end of the stick, concerning extras, The Expendables 2 disc contained a great supply of things to satiate people that love to find out more about the film or its inspirations.

With the a third Expendables shortly on the way, The Expendables 2 is a perfect film to hold one over to enjoy again and again. With plenty of explosions, bullets and mayhem to go around, there’s plenty to chew on and enough to revisit that make The Expendables 2 an awesome experience! Highly Recommended!

is a graduate from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Audio for Visual Media. He works as a freelance location sound mixer, boom operator, sound designer, and writer in his native Chicago. He's an avid collector of films, comics, and anime.